Ruth was certainly a nontraditional woman for her time. She tried to have it all—a husband, children and a career. What are your thoughts about her as a mother and her relationship with Barbara? How do you think her own childhood impacted her views on motherhood?
I think she loved her children but she didn’t have the mothering instinct. She was a cold, business woman and didn’t let her guard down. With children, you need to soothe and have empathy. Those skills in her position would have made her look weak. She was pushed aside as a little girl and that’s all she knew how to do.
2 Likes
Ruth tried to be a mother, but she herself did not have a role model. Her mother had shipped her off to live with her sister, who raised Ruth. Her sister was busy with owning a business and being a wife, so while she supported Ruth and it was a loving relationship, it was not a mother/daughter relationship.
I understand Ruth, even today it is tough to work and also be a wife and mother. If you want to be successful at work it often means working overtime or business travel. The challenge is to try to make time to be with your family, attend those important school events and just be with your child. Tough and it can mean that you will not be able to be at the highest level at work. How many women at the CEO’s at Fortune 500 Companies? Only 10% and that is as of today,not in Ruth’s time.
2 Likes
I never had children and was devoted to my career. I can’t imagine being as successful as I was had I had children. I worked long hours, got home late, was on call so sometimes out all night…how does one do that and be a mom? You have to have a good support system - someone to watch the kids - and Ruth certainly had one with Elliot. But I think kids, especially girls, need their mothers. Ruth did the best she could.
2 Likes
I agree with the comment that Ruth didn’t possess natural mothering instincts; it sounded like Elliott was better with both kids in terms of listening to them and nurturing them. Ruth was a natural businesswoman and was determined and even ruthless at a time when women didnt own and run companies. I feel sorry for Barbara that she didn’t have a more loving, nurturing mother, but she also never really appreciated her mother’s successful business career.
1 Like
I think one person can only stretch so far. Ruth gave her all to her business. I doubt she could have found more energy for her family without it impacting her business life.
1 Like
Ruth was certainly a career role model for the women who knew of her. As the President of Mattel in the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s, she was pretty amazing.
Yet, she could not “have it all”. Neither can most women in 2025.
2 Likes
She had no clue on how to relate to her children–but then she didn’t have any real experience of true parenting. If she spent as much time thinking about her children as people instead of something she could control completely as she did the doll, she’d probably have had a better relationship with them.
2 Likes
I don’t think Ruth had a mothering instinct. I think she thought that she did and wanted her way to make Barbara love and admire her like a mother. She was more of a mother to Barbie than her children.
2 Likes
Ruth faced the classic dilemma of trying to balance career and family, but her approach was shaped by her own upbringing. Since she lacked a nurturing maternal figure, it makes sense that she struggled with emotional connection as a mother. Elliott was the more nurturing parent, while Ruth poured her energy into her business.
Her experience highlights a larger societal issue—how difficult it is for women to “have it all.” Even today, as some of you mentioned, only a small percentage of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, which shows the continuing challenge of balancing professional ambition with family life.
1 Like